Posted on 12/16/2014 10:41:20 AM PST by knarf
Listening to the radio yesterday, it was stated that the United States is the only nation whose newly elected officials do not start serving immediately after an election, but waits almost three months.
Then an EO could be written by the incoming President Cruz, eh ?
Unfortunately the GOP has no interest in ceding power from the senate back to the states.
The last 2 GOP senate candidates in Michigan made the mistake of suggesting senators be returned to under the power of the state. The GOP tossed them overboard and threw them anchors.
SOMETHING should be able to be done to prevent assholes from doing desperate things because the time is limited.
The time should end and a new clock wound .... imo
Because the votes haven’t been counted. You’ve got to remember it’s a big country, and it’s a de-centralized country. Each state legislature is tasked with running their own elections within a very loose framework (basically the date and the federal offices on that date), so each state runs things differently, and most aren’t terribly efficient. And with recounts it only gets worse (AZ-2 is expected to finally be certified today). And all that MUST be done before the state sends its EC representatives. And the EC might not actually give enough votes to one side for their to be a winner, so they need time to go through multiple ballots and all the other stuff that can happen to finally actually elect a president.
You need to remember, our government is actually specifically designed to NOT be efficient. Gridlock is built directly into the very structure. You want efficiency. You want efficiency, it’s like wanting water to roll uphill. Not gonna happen.
I have never given any politician a mandate to rule over me.
Yes, Congress could, by statute, move Election Day to December. But having political campaigns overlap with the Thanksgiving-Christmas season would not be popular.
Repeal Section 2 of the 20th Amendment.
My immediate and steadfast response would be, "Kiss my ass."
Yeppers - no committee assignments for you, no party money for your re-election, etc.
“I have never given any politician a mandate to rule over me.”
Cool, then I guess you are good to stop paying them their taxes and go out and sell loose cigarettes on the street.
72 hours from the election results being certified sounds right for the first organizational meetings of the new congress.
Check out Article V of the Constitution and The Liberty Amendments by Mark Levin.... A lot of good stuff to get many problems like this solved.
as in the good old days
The 20th Amendment specifies the date of Jan 3 for the start of a new Congressional term. There would need to be another amendment to change that date. I would agree that there’s no practical reason any more for not starting the new Congressional term immediately. Flights are available from all over the US and every new Senator and Representative (even from Alaska and Hawaii) could be there within 24-48 hours of the election. There could be some provision for contested races, such as the seat remaining open until the race is decided or the previous incumbent remaining until it’s decided.
Why must the timing of the Presidential election affect the start of the new Congress? Prior to the ratification of the 20th Amendment, both the new Presidential and the new Congressional term started on the same day, March 4. With the ratification of the 20th Amendment, the new terms now start on different days, Jan 3 for the new Congress, Jan 20 for the new President. I agree that a new amendment would be needed, but why could the date for the new Congressional term not be changed without changing the date for the new Presidential term?
I would suggest that the new Congress start 2 days after the election. It should be possible to get from anywhere in the US to DC in 48 hours using commercial airlines. If there’s a contested election, perhaps include some remedy such as allowing the incumbent to continue to serve until the contest is decided or leave the seat open. The requirement that the new Congress be seated nearly 2 months after being elected is an anachronism from the time when travel to DC was time consuming and difficult.
I’ve been saying 48 hours, but I could go along with 72. It’s much better than what we have now.
Why not? Really 2 days after the election there’s always half a dozen races that haven’t been decided yet. Plus there’s winter recess coming, not much reason to swear in a new congress just to say “go home”. So you wait for all the elections to be decided, and recess to end. Really there’s nothing to be gained seating them earlier.
bonehead would not have the time to pull the shit off he just did
Sure he would. Polls are pretty accurate, none of the election results were a surprise to anybody paying attention. He could just as easily have written it all in advance and signed it while the voting was happening. Places that have fast turn around on seating don’t have a reduction in poison pill exits. It just happens quicker.
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